Mind & EmotionGreek → English
Dyspraxia
/dɪsˈpræksiə/noun
A developmental condition affecting the planning and coordination of physical movement.
The Greek roots
δυσ-
dys-
bad, difficult
πρᾶξις
prâxis
doing, action
Literally: “difficult doing”
The story of the word
πρᾶξις in Aristotle is purposeful action, deliberately opposed to ποίησις, making something; the distinction survives in English as practice against production. Dyspraxia names a failure at exactly that level, the planning rather than the muscle, which is why a child with it can have full strength and still not manage buttons. Clinicians increasingly use developmental coordination disorder instead, though the Greek word is the one families use.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → medical coinage → English
- First recorded
- 20th century
Same family
apraxiapraxispracticepragmatic
In a sentence
Her dyspraxia shows up most in PE lessons and least in anything she can do sitting down.